It looks as if Granny-Anne has beaten me to it again! She posted about feeding the birds while I was just thinking about it!
Yes, we started feeding the birds at the end of October, using the rather posh feeder which was a gift from our daughter, Jennie, some months ago.
I must admit that, at first, I was a bit worried that this large, shiny feeder would frighten the birds away. So I hung it out in the garden a couple of months ago to give the birds time to get used to it. It was empty then because I understand that it is not good to feed birds in the summer. I filled it a week ago and only then did I notice a complete absence of birds in our garden. Not one would appear in a space of 10-15 minutes. This was odd.
This seemed so unusual that I contacted the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds via Twitter (yes, I know, how appropriate! But Granny-Anne has used a variation of that one already!) and they replied that it is not unusual for birds to disperse after the young have left the nest.
Nothing happened at the feeder for a few days, until the first visitor that I saw was a Coal Tit, a brave little adventurer who stopped for a quick snack to break his journey. Soon after there was a Robin, then a Blue Tit, then a little gang of House Sparrows stopped for a quick look in between chasing each other around the trees and finally departing at great speed into a thick hedge a couple of gardens away.
The birds were back at last and all, well, that much at least, was well with the world.
I haven’t put out seed feeders for a long time, but I do feed the hummingbirds pretty regularly. They’ve become so accustomed to feeders in this area (at least) that they are now encouraging people to keep them filled even in the winter, since the little balls of feathers and fluff no longer bother migrating. Last winter during an unusually severe couple of weeks when the temps were down in the 20s and lower (Fahrenheit, so around -5 or -6C) I kept rotating two feeders. When one would freeze solid I’d bring the second one out, and bring the first in to thaw, and so on. I don’t know how they do it, tiny as they are, but my little friends survived that awful cold.
November is our “strange” month, songbird-wise. You don’t see a single one, and even in the woods there’s an almost absolute silence. Part of the reason is that this is our “high time” for food. There’s plenty around for them, and they have no need to have it supplemented. And yes, the second brood is gone and I suppose those poor parent birds are just having a rest, hanging out in bushes and thinking, “Phew! I’m glad THAT”S over!”
On the other hand, this is the month our migratory water birds begin coming in. Ibis, heron, white pelicans, coots, grebes and such begin appearing from the north. Geese and ducks will be next month’s arrivals. I saw my first huge flocks of white pelicans two days ago, so high you barely could see them circling on the thermals. I’m still waiting for the first coot – they’re so pretty, with their white bills.
Best of all are the osprey. Their calls are beautiful, and it’s just stunning to watch them fish, flying away with dinner in their talons. Next spring I hope to get over to Lake Martin in Louisiana – it’s a huge egret and roseate spoonbill rookery, and I’m told you can get marvelous photos there.
Yes, I often wonder how the small birds, in particular, continue to function in heavy frosts or worse. Why don’t their skinny little legs freeze up?
As for your list of immigrants, Shoreacres, I am so envious! It reminds me that I must pack some sandwichers and a flask and get myself along to our nearest wildlife reserve (only a few miles away on the outskirts of Newport) before much longer.